About

Umbro World Cup Visualization

Data stories

Umbro planned to cover the World Cup with game recaps across their digital channels, and they commissioned me to come up with infographics to feature in their coverage. I designed a visual language for summarizing soccer matches, using timelines that can be paired with written game analysis.

Umbro's final post of the series—a single bird's-eye view of all 64 matches—was the most trafficked post on their blog to that date. In response to the high engagement, Umbro gave away posters of the final graphic.

Recognition

  • “The best visualization of the World Cup” -FastCo

Published in books

  • Data Visualization: Convey, Clarify, Construct by Do/Work Publishing
  • Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process by Andy Kirk

How to read these timelines

This ~90-minute timeline represents a football match
Yellow lines in the timeline indicate passes
Blue triangles indicate shots on goal
Red circles above any blue triangles indicate a successful goal

Infamous goals from the tournament

Timeline for Portgual v. North Korea match
Portugal hammers North Korea with a 7-0 shutout.
Timeline for Spain v. Switzerland match
While Spain dominates Switzerland all match, the Swiss slip one in for the win.
Timeline for Argentina v. Nigeria match
Argentina comes out swinging, but goes unanswered.
Timeline for Algeria v. USA match
After 90 balanced minutes, USA scores with seconds left.

Every pass, shot, and goal of the World Cup

Group A
Timelines for the six matches in Group A
Group B
Timelines for the six matches in Group B
Group C
Timelines for the six matches in Group C
Group D
Timelines for the six matches in Group D
Group E
Timelines for the six matches in Group E
Group F
Timelines for the six matches in Group F
Group G
Timelines for the six matches in Group G
Group H
Timelines for the six matches in Group H
Round of 16
Timelines for the eight matches in the Round of 16
Quarter finals
Timelines for the four matches in quarter finals
Semi finals
Timelines for the two matches in the semi finals
Third place
Timeline for the third place match
Final
Timeline for the final match
Back to project list